Trump joins Cruz in attacking Obama's internet plan

Donald Trump's campaign Wednesday criticized the Obama administration's plan to hand oversight of the internet's domain name system to an international body, echoing Sen. Ted Cruz's argument that it could lead to more censorship by countries like Russia and China.

"The U.S. should not turn control of the Internet over to the United Nations and the international community. President Obama intends to do so on his own authority — just 10 days from now, on October 1st, unless Congress acts quickly to stop him," Trump's national policy director, Stephen Miller, said in a statement published on the campaign's website.

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"The Republicans in Congress are admirably leading a fight to save the Internet this week, and need all the help the American people can give them to be successful. Hillary Clinton’s Democrats are refusing to protect the American people by not protecting the Internet," Miller wrote.

"Internet freedom is now at risk with the President’s intent to cede control to international interests, including countries like China and Russia, which have a long track record of trying to impose online censorship," the statement continued. "Congress needs to act, or Internet freedom will be lost for good, since there will be no way to make it great again once it is lost."

Cruz, who has famously refused to endorse Trump's candidacy, thanked the GOP nominee in a tweet: "Appreciate @realDonaldTrump’s support of our efforts to stop Obama’s Internet handover & keep the #Internet free."

The Texas senator has repeatedly slammed the administration's plan to transfer domain-name oversight to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a global non-profit. Tech companies have supported the plan, and the Commerce Department says it was always envisioned that U.S. oversight of the internet would be temporary.

Cruz and other Republicans have called for the internet transition to be blocked as part of the continuing resolution that keeps the government running beyond Sept. 30.

Hillary Clinton, in her tech policy platform, says she supports the transition as a "critical step towards safeguarding the internet’s openness for future generations."